Angelo Esposito [00:00:12]:

Welcome to another episode of WISKing It All. We're here today with Jason Berkowitz, founder of Arrow Up Training. Jason, thanks for joining us.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:00:21]:

Great to be here. Thanks for having me.

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Angelo Esposito [00:00:23]:

Of course. So I'm excited to get into it, as always. Quick intro. What is Air Up Training? And again, high level, because we'll get into it in a couple minutes.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:00:33]:

Arrow Up Training. We help restaurants satisfy compliance while developing supervisors into leaders. And we do this through individual online courses or our full online platform.

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Angelo Esposito [00:00:44]:

Love it. Cool. We're definitely going to dive more into that, but as always, I love understanding the why behind people, how they got into the industry and why they got into it. So I love to know your story. What got you into the hospitality space in the first place?

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Jason Berkowitz [00:01:00]:

I mean, for me, it was a story. My mom. So she started a clothing business in our basement and then moved it out to this local shop in Cleveland. And I would visit her after school. And maybe I'm 13 going on then up to about 14, and it happened to be right next to a Burger King. And I would walk outside and just smell it. Just the air was beautiful, and see it and feel it. And I would go over and.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:01:29]:

And I would eat there. And I started to eat there regularly, and I'd walk in, and I'm just like, man, this vibe is amazing, and I need to be a part of it. And I kept going and leaving and coming back, and my mom's like, do you really love Whoppers that much? I'm like, I just like the space. I just want to be a part of it. And I'm like, I gotta work there. And she really, well, you're 14. You're too young to. To officially work, so we're gonna make it happen.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:01:55]:

So met the manager, asked who he was, and introduced myself. And he's like, yeah, you're too young. I kept coming back, kept coming back. And then I brought my mom in one day, and I'm like, can't she sign off? We got to do something. This is. This is Cleveland in the. In the 80s. I'm like, we can make this happen.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:02:12]:

He's like, all right, we can make this happen. And so that's when I started. I remember that the. I remember getting the uniform, and I remember the visor, and I remember putting on the visor. And it just was just this glorious moment, almost like a. Just like the heavens parted, and there I was standing there, and I couldn't take the uniform off. I thought it was awesome. And that was the introduction to it and just kind of worked my way through from fast casual.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:02:36]:

Then I saw a local coffee shop, and I loved the vibe of the coffee shop and went to the manager and said, I bet you I can help increase your sales, bring a new demographic, figure out your coffees. And she's like, you're 16. What are you talking about? And she gave me a chance, right? And I did, and I brought in kids, and I got into it and I started sourcing product and figuring things out. And that's kind of kicked in my journey all the way through from, you know, the short end of it. I mean, spent a lot of time there, was. Was. Worked my way through college, got a degree in psychology, worked in restaurants and cafes and just always loved it. Worked my way up then to steakhouses and fine dining.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:03:17]:

And it really wasn't until a manager tapped me and was like, what are you doing? Like, I was a server. They're like, get in the game. And that's when I started leadership and really dove in and got into management and have had the pleasure of working with, scaling some incredible brands. I mean, you know, a sweet spot if you had two to five units. You bring me on board and I help you scale it to opening up Gucci Osteria in Beverly Hills with chef Massimo Bottura, one of the top chefs, if not the best chef, you know, in the world. So, yeah, you know, there's a. There's a lot to talk about, whatever gets most interesting. But I had a really fun journey.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:03:56]:

And I would say it started with the vibe. It's always been the vibe. But I love the food and I love the people.

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Angelo Esposito [00:04:04]:

I love that. That's a great, great story. And it.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:04:06]:

It's.

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Angelo Esposito [00:04:07]:

I love the way he described your first job at Burger King. And it just. I could feel and hear the passion and it's. The reason I was, like, smiling so much is because, you know, I imagine someone today describing their first fast food job, and it wouldn't be like that, but really was like the. The best thing ever, which is such a unique and interesting thing, is like, you, you know, was the dream job. And, you know, it led you where you are today. I know, if I'm not mistaken, to correct me, but I believe over two decades, maybe even more at this point, but two decades in the hospitality space or hospitality experience, and I think the number I saw online was 50 restaurant openings. Is that right?

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Jason Berkowitz [00:04:41]:

I got.

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Angelo Esposito [00:04:42]:

Yeah, okay. Oh, wow. Okay. I saw over 50, but you're well over 50. Okay. Yeah. So. So maybe starting there because that that's.

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Angelo Esposito [00:04:53]:

We got a lot of restaurant operators that listen in, a lot of restaurant owners. And so, you know, that might be a good top. First topic to get into is like, what are some big lessons that you've learned? And I'm sure there's a ton, but if you could maybe narrow down to a few. What are some lessons that come to mind when you think of opening? The biggest lessons, I guess, when it came to opening restaurants from, I guess, operational perspective.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:05:15]:

Yeah. And so I'll tell you, let's go back to opening, but let's start with training you something that pops to mind. When I came on board, Umami Burger was a great brand that had five units. And they brought me on board to be their Director of Service, then VP of Hospitality, then VP of Ops. And the same thing when I came on board with other brands or with Tokaya Organica, part of the Madera group, Toca Madera, they brought me on board to scale from two restaurants to 20 and beyond. Right. And you build it up, you put your infrastructure, you raise capital, and you grow. And in both, in almost all instances, but these are two examples.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:05:57]:

I said, whether VP or Director or COO, no one talked to me for the first 30 days. I am going to dive in and put a training program together. I'm not even turning on my email because the second you expect me to answer an email is the minute you expect me to be somewhere or respond or put out a fire. And it's so hard to build the ship and sail it at the same time. And so I just dove in for 30 days and almost deputized people in different positions to help me put together a training program. And I would say to anybody listening, if you do not have a training program that clearly outlines what everybody needs, immediately start there. And here's what's great. You don't need to do it all yourself.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:06:47]:

Get a leader, get your favorite cook, whomever in every position and just ask them to be a part of it. Ask them to start to document what their daily tasks are. Keep it simple. This is what it is. And then you bring it together and it can be in a Google Doc piece of paper. There's great tools out there. Reach out to me. Start there.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:07:10]:

Because everybody wants to know two things. This is it. What's my job and how am I doing? It's life. What do you expect of me in a relationship, in anything? So with every employee, you have to ask yourself, even yourself, do I understand? What does it mean to do a good job and how do I know if I am. That comes back to feed. First one is training, second one is feedback. So I want to start there and then we could talk about the biggest tool to opening a restaurant. But I don't know.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:07:47]:

Let's unpack the first one.

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Angelo Esposito [00:07:48]:

Yeah, let's unpack that because that's, that, that's great. I'm glad you kind of steered the combo there because at the end of the day really the whole point of WISKing it all is to get people in the industry to share their experience, their knowledge, their wisdom and ideally help listeners. And so this is great. So obviously documenting is a first core step. What, what do you think are the most important things to document? So I know obviously like, hey everyone, just document what you're doing. But like from your point of view, what are the things that are like no brainer. If you have a fast casual or we could even get into full service. Like what are things like day one, week one or month one.

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Angelo Esposito [00:08:21]:

You should be kind of thinking about documenting.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:08:23]:

Yeah, it depends on the role but, but I think you would take. I think you should start with the journey of an individual. So day one, I walk in the door. What do I need? What would I need if it was me walking in the door? And then that person and I think anyone would start that and then you arc that to what would be, let's say a five day training right to then you've. You're ready to start to run a shift and that and maybe it's two extra days of shadowing. Day one is absolutely spend time with the in store leader. It is absolutely proven. I mean we're talking 30 to 50% turnover rates change by whether or not when somebody walks in the door, they feel like the new kid on the playground who no one expected them and they got to figure out who their clique is and it's terrible.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:09:11]:

Versus walking in and somebody turns to them and goes, you must be Jason. Cool, we're excited. We heard you were coming in. Brian's in the back, you know, the GM or whomever. Jenny's in the back, let me go get them. And they're going to come out and spend a little time with you. They come out. I mean just the difference right then and there is I belong.

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Angelo Esposito [00:09:31]:

Yeah.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:09:31]:

Oh my God. Right now I'm starting to let down my guard. I'm starting to show a little trust. I want to participate. I want to show up for this moment. Then the, then the leader comes out and sits down with me for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and just talks about, you know, what's up, find out what's important to me as the employee, why have I taken this job, what, what am I looking for? Then after learning, find out what's important to the leader, what matters to them. Right. Oh, you got a kid and this and that's cool.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:10:03]:

And. Oh, so Saturdays are really important to you because you go see their baseball league or whatever it is. That is the first bit of the journey. Then you kind of move through. So I think everyone should learn about the food. I love spending a little bit of time at the Expo, no matter what it is or where the food's coming out. And that, that bottleneck of after being made, going out, then depending on the position is you just start to learn what a day in the life looks like. And you can keep it linear and you can keep it simple and you can answer some questions, but that's really key while at the same time absolutely.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:10:41]:

Making sure your values and your culture is coming through. But I wouldn't worry so much about, it's written on a whiteboard, the values and all this. It's great to document it. It's really just about are people living it, you know, and what you're feeling. So you've got to document it. Absolutely. But don't spend all this time crafting it for 10 weeks writing your five things. Get it down quick, make it.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:11:04]:

It's a living, breathing document as you add the human side of it. So I would, I would follow the journey of the person. Also make sure there's some shadow, shoulder to shoulder.

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Angelo Esposito [00:11:13]:

Right.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:11:13]:

There's some online learning, there's some paper learning, there's some. You know, I love online learning because I can learn how to do it and then I can shadow and show you what I've learned. That saves money, saves time, saves a little bit of embarrassment for me on my learning curve as an employee. So don't, don't miss the blend of it all, you know, in person and online.

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Angelo Esposito [00:11:37]:

That makes sense. And then, and then what do you say to people say, okay, cool, I'm all for documenting it, but the maintaining side of it and the keeping it up to date. Any tips around how do you keep these processes, you know, relevant?

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Jason Berkowitz [00:11:50]:

Yeah, well, with the process, you have somebody own it on your team, Right. You don't. One person, far too often, general managers or leaders, they take on too much. And then when that happens, you're only going to focus on what's urgent, what's not important.

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Angelo Esposito [00:12:04]:

Right.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:12:05]:

And if you do that what's important realize is becomes urgence. So number one is deputize each person. Have them own it. Have somebody below you. People are want more responsibility. Give somebody a supervisor, the responsibility. So have them be responsible. Have the.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:12:24]:

When the trainee goes through it, have them evaluate it. Have they themselves updated. Bring everybody into the fold. Now, as far as maintaining consistency, I believe that just like instruments, everything goes out of tune, right? If I got to tune my guitar that's sitting right next to me, why shouldn't people have to be tuned up? So I believe in building a culture with constant gentle pressure, constant tuning, constant training, constant showing. Have people show each other so it's less top down, right? Build a rhythm. And then when people expect this, tune up and sharing the way with each other, right? Okay, everybody, today we're going to scoop. We're all going to make a taco because we're going to measure out literally how many ounces of beef go on that scale. And the winner gets a gift card.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:13:18]:

Who hits it? Point. Go. I've done that, right? And so that's cool. Okay, this quarter. That's what we're doing. Everybody scoop it. You're going to make it quickly, make it fast and clean. Boom.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:13:27]:

Johnny, you're 2 ounces over, you know, or 0.2 ounces over. And you know, but, you know, I'm saying. Yeah, so. So constant general pressure. And then people are expecting this tune up, and then they're not putting up their guards. They're not feeling defensive. They're like, all right, right.

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Angelo Esposito [00:13:42]:

So make a game part of the process. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:13:45]:

Part of the process. That's fun.

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Angelo Esposito [00:13:46]:

It's funny because. Because even internally, for me, that was. That was, you know, obviously a tech. You know, we're in hospitality space, but we're a tech company. And so sometimes it's easier to make these Playbooks because a lot of it's, you know, on your computer and screenshots and whatnot. But regardless of that, the point is, for me, that was a big, big transformational moment. Really started, like, delegating and documenting and creating Playbooks. And then, like, it became to the point where, like, now we have Playbooks.

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Angelo Esposito [00:14:12]:

We have a playbook on how to create Playbooks. So we hired a Playbook creator and all that. All she does is like, someone creates a loom video, and they're like, oh, this is how I update the CRM when this happens. Or this is how I create a. We send it to the Playbook creator. She creates the Playbooks because we have a Standard format now of like this woman playbook. The updated time at the top, who updated it, whatever the steps, the checklist. So, like, what's the definition of done? That was a big one for me because I really, you know, I.

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Angelo Esposito [00:14:37]:

I can't tell you how many arguments were avoided once we implemented the definition of done. Because what's done for me might be like, yeah, we just need this feature for this client. And for the client might be like, well, I need the feature to be easy to use. And so it's like making things clear was such a big change. But anyways, all this to say, like, I'm a big believer. We only started doing a couple years back and it was a, it was a game changer because it felt like such a weight off your shoulders when, you know, like, okay, whenever there's a hole, instead of like panicking, I'm just going to say, great, let's create a playbook for that. If it's something that is repeatable. Right.

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Angelo Esposito [00:15:08]:

Not something you do once, but if you're like, okay, it's the third time I'm doing this thing, there's certain frequency to it. It's pretty important. It takes more than, I don't know, 10 minutes. Okay. Yeah. It's probably worth having a playbook. So, like having that maybe definition of when is it necessary to create a playbook? And for us, it was like a certain amount of repeatability and it takes a certain amount of time because obviously if something takes two minutes or something is only done once, probably not worth creating a playbook.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:15:33]:

Yeah, I love that. What's the definition of done? I think that's great. And bravo for not falling into the trap of we don't have time to do it, but we to do it Right. But we always seem to find time to correct it over and over again. And that's in many industries and especially the restaurants where a lot of people are just exhausted and you sometimes, you always have the energy to fix it in the moment, but to take a time to build a playbook.

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Angelo Esposito [00:16:04]:

Yeah.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:16:04]:

Is difficult. So I think it's great. I think something else that you touched on very specifically to the restaurant space is letting people know the difference between doing it and it's done. And so it's as simple as, you know, side work, running side work for the host to clean the windows. I clean the windows, totally. Let me ask you a question. Are the windows clean, though?

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Angelo Esposito [00:16:31]:

Right, Right. There's a difference. Yeah. Yeah. And there's very, there's very different definitions that clean even on the person, right? You have neat freaks who clean is like, spending too much time, and then people are like, that's clean. I. It doesn't look, you know, I can see through it. And then there's probably, like, someone in between.

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Angelo Esposito [00:16:46]:

But I agree, like, if you don't have that definition of like, you know, or that checklist even, right. Like, another common one I see in the restaurants is like the closing checklist. Like, all right, ready, close. I clean the kitchen, but without a checklist to be like, okay, cool, this is done. This is done. Plates, put away, these dishwashers, like, emptied, whatever floors are mopped, you name it. People are always going to do it differently. And in a sense, you can't blame them.

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Angelo Esposito [00:17:08]:

That's on leadership to do a better job of having clear checklists.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:17:14]:

Yeah. And it's one of the number one ways to either build or destroy culture. Because what happens is you have somebody like myself who will make sure it gets done, and you have somebody who doesn't, and they leave the building, and then I'm upset that somebody wasn't holding them accountable, and I'm gonna do it. And then I'm second guessing, do I need to be the one that has to put something in place? So it's. It's amazing, the compound effects, both positive and negative. Simple little things like a checklist have, you know, because the checklist answers the question, what's my job and how am I doing it? Makes it really clear. It's a very simple metric, right? It's your inventory counting. How much can we set a very specific expectation up? How do I simplify it? Sheet the shelf, right? Whatever we need to do.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:18:10]:

Make the thing digital. Let's give you the tool to make it really simple, and let's track it, because that's then the measurable of how you're doing and how it affects the larger picture. You know, again, that goes back to, I think, something of what your company is working on. My company, and anybody listening is, please tell people what they're doing, why they're doing it, and how it affects the bigger picture.

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Angelo Esposito [00:18:36]:

Right.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:18:36]:

Just take that moment, be like, all right, cool. Let me tell you why we've got this. Yeah, this is this. And so it saves you time here and helps us here. And I don't have to spend all this extra time in the back office doing this when I. I don't want to do that. I got into this job to be on the floor with all of you and being with guests, and if I'm sitting there doing Manual sheets. I'm in a bad mood.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:18:58]:

So this is why I need this. Yeah. So, so talk to people about. Talk to it. You know, take the time. Show them exactly what, what the. What the window is supposed to look like as clean. Tell them why you expect this.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:19:10]:

This bar inventory, like, have these conversations. You never had time to do it, but you always have time to fix it again and again, right?

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Angelo Esposito [00:19:17]:

It's true. It's true. And it's funny because you nailed it. And it's funny. The WISK slogan actually is time back, passion forward. But it's exactly that. It was like, man, no one got into this space because they love being on Excel spreadsheets and placing orders manually and doing recipe cost. Like, but it's so important and so bridging that gap of like, number one, we want to give you time back so you can focus on, you know, things you actually care about.

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Angelo Esposito [00:19:41]:

But number two, you still got to do those things because it's like I always tell people in a restaurant, like, the two biggest things. Things are, generally speaking, are your labor costs and your cost of goods. And it's like, so, so. But you're right. To me, it's obvious. And that's a lesson I learned too. It's like, of course it's obvious to me. And like in your case, to the stuff you're working on because you do it every day.

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Angelo Esposito [00:19:59]:

But how do you explain it to someone who might not think of it as much? I think about inventory every day, but someone who's not thinking about inventory, I have to remind myself to paint the picture. And I might say something as simple as, hey, let's say you're doing a million dollars in revenue a year about, give or take 300 ish thousand is going to be cost of goods, depending on your type of place, could be higher, whatever. But I say, okay, about 300,000, about 30%. We help you manage that. Imagine instead of 300,000, we could bring that down at 250,000 and you're still making a million. Well, that's 50,000 to your bottom line, and that's why we do it. But now, ideally, not only do we do it, but it will be easier and faster and it'll be a little less painful. And then that's.

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Angelo Esposito [00:20:37]:

And then people are like, okay, I get it now. Like, I understand.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:20:39]:

Yeah. And you said time. And that also gives you time forward, right? Passion forward, time back, passion forward. That gives you clarity for your team. So you're actually giving them a process that they're Able to understand that's simplified and everybody agrees on. We know what done looks like because it's been established in a digital format. And you save $50,000, which means you get the whole $50,000 as opposed to adding. And then you have to distribute that.

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Angelo Esposito [00:21:12]:

Exactly.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:21:13]:

Every dollar you save, you keep the whole dollar, which is fantastic to use towards whatever else you need it. Obviously it gets absorbed somewhere. But.

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Angelo Esposito [00:21:21]:

Yeah, yeah. And it's funny because that was the biggest challenge and, you know, to taller restaurateurs listening, like a lot of them generally. And then I don't blame them. I was like that too. It's like the mentality is more always, like, you think more about the additional sales, less about the cost savings. Right. Kind of like that promoter mentality. Oh, nice.

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Angelo Esposito [00:21:37]:

We brought in an extra number of seats or an extra dol. But it's harder to think in terms of, like, cost savings. But sometimes, like, to your point, when you really do a proper cost savings, it has a direct impact. Whereas, like, when you're doing a marketing campaign, of course it's important, but you have to factor in what's the actual, like, you know, return on. On ad spend or return on investment of that campaign. And it's not always just, you know, so black and white. It's like, oh, nice, we made an extra million. But, okay, take out all the costs.

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Angelo Esposito [00:22:05]:

What did you really make?

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Jason Berkowitz [00:22:06]:

You know, so, yeah, you make $100,000, you gotta. You gotta spend. And if you're at a 20% EBITDA, you gotta spend, you know, 80% of it. Yeah, yeah, you save $50,000, you've done better than sales. Saving $50,000 puts more money in your pocket than selling $200,000.

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Angelo Esposito [00:22:27]:

Exactly.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:22:29]:

So.

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Angelo Esposito [00:22:29]:

But do both. Yeah, exactly.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:22:32]:

That's what I say is because now they're streamlined. There's efficiency, there's more time to train, there's more time to sell, there's more time on the floor, there's more time doing things, so there's less efficiency. So let's move that delta.

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Angelo Esposito [00:22:43]:

Exactly. You nailed it. You nailed it. And so going back to, I guess, yeah, I keep thinking 50 restaurants, but now, as you said, close to 100 restaurant openings. So definitely sounds like a good first step is like, create good processes and playbooks. What else have you learned when you think about all these restaurant openings? Maybe things that kind of were common in a lot of, like, things you saw over and over again that you can share with our listeners.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:23:10]:

I will tell you, even you put your process to get in place, but the number one most important thing to have when opening up a new restaurant is your critical path to opening. It is your project management tool. It is the, the tool that says and I'm actually as of now putting a blank version of mine together and going to give it away to people. So.

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Angelo Esposito [00:23:38]:

Oh wow.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:23:38]:

You'll be able to find me through the show notes. I'm giving it away to people.

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Angelo Esposito [00:23:42]:

Yeah. And we'll definitely link it at the end, by the way, just so our listeners don't worry. We're going to put in the show notes. We'll shout you out on, you know, website wise, the whatever, socials wise. And we also have a part of our newsletter. We do kind of like some key learnings from each episode. So we'll make sure to link up if your guide or download is ready or link. We'll include it in that so people can download it.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:24:04]:

Yep. And so you. And it'll. It'll change a little bit. I've opened up the majority of my restaurants in California, but I've opened them up across the country. But you can adapt it. But what it is is very simply, here's the roadmap to opening. Here are all the things we need to do.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:24:20]:

What inventory are we picking out to who's ordering the pos to the right to the pos. To the toothpicks. Right. Are we, are we having toothpicks or not? Right to the S. You know, the FF&E and OS&E and stuff. So it's everything. And then you, so you list it, you put people in charge of it. So it's what needs to get done, who's responsible for doing it and how long does it need to be done before an opening date.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:24:49]:

And the key of this document is this. You have an anticipated opening date. So I want to open up March 2025. Great. I know that there are certain things that need to get done along the way. Some things are long lead like a sign in la you wouldn't think that you need six to eight months but you do. Right. Permits.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:25:08]:

Right. Two little things like the toothpicks. But there are non negotiable things that move that date. And by having this, that knowing if I missed permits or certain things or liquor license and the date moves. It's a centralized document that's just telling people what's up. And again this is a Google sheet. The Excel sheet doesn't need to be too crazy. And so it's what needs to get done.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:25:33]:

Who's responsible, how many weeks out and did it get done in time. And is that opening date move? Because what happens is you now know your true opening date, which means you can plan so many things like, when do I hire people? Far too many people push for a date, but they really don't know. And they hire all these people. And now people are on and they bring them in to train and they can't get in the building because they didn't have the fire sign off. And now they're standing outside and they're. And they're. It's costing them $5,000 a day in labor. And these people are pissed.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:26:08]:

And so you send them home and then you realize, you know what? You're not going to be able to start training for two weeks. So you ask them to wait. And half of them quit and take another job.

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Angelo Esposito [00:26:15]:

They have turnover. Ye.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:26:17]:

And it's terrible. And so this date, somebody told me a very wise line that I didn't understand when they first told me. But it is. Sometimes rent is the cheapest thing you could pay. And what that is is right. Rent starts in March, so we're open in March. I know you say that, but rent's 10,000amonth. We're not opening in March based on this project management tool.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:26:45]:

So let's stop trying to rush orders, spend overtime, do all these things, spend double pay of transit, make everybody lose sleep to hit a date. That's. Let's just spend the $10,000 and push this thing to April or 20,000, because you're still saving $120,000 by recognizing that you're not going to make it. And what's great is this document, a central document. Everybody goes off of it. It's just the facts. No one needs to be the bad person. Also, it limits the need of whomever owns the document.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:27:20]:

So whoever's the project manager from needing to micromanage people because it's not. Angelo, did you call the HR person? Angelo, did you get the handbook over and over again? No. It's on your task. When you do it, you click that you've done it and you manage it up. So you've saved money, you've saved headaches, and you've saved these terrible, awkward conversations because somebody has to micromanage somebody else. Get rid of that crap, man. Just put a system in place and manage up. That's the number one most important thing to opening up a new restaurant.

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Angelo Esposito [00:27:54]:

I love that. We'll definitely have to once. Once you have that checklist. Well, I mean, we'll connect offline. I'd love to Give people a link to that, whether it goes to your website or whatever. But, and they can download it. But that, that'll be great. We have I think on our newsletter now like 25,000 restauranters.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:09]:

So that'll be, hopefully you'll help a good chunk of those people. So that, that's, that's awesome.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:28:14]:

I love it. And of course it's your food and your concept we're talking about, we're talking about expanding. Right? You've got that we're talking about.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:24]:

Yeah, you need to be hitting the core things. If your food's bad and no one's coming back and it's not edible, you got bigger problems. But yeah, I'm with you there. I'm with you. And then from there what do you see? So the difference between let's say obviously a first time opening, which obviously that critical checklist as you said, and then maybe expansion. Can we chat a bit about like people who maybe have. Because a lot of listeners probably have a couple restaurants. So let's say they got two, three, four restaurants.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:49]:

What kind of advice can you give them now they want to expand to more locations. What are things they should be thinking about from your experience?

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Jason Berkowitz [00:28:57]:

So two things. One is get your systems in place, whether it be WISK, whether it be, you know, get your automation in place. If you're doing your schedule by hand, you should get. Nope. An online scheduling tool. So really look at, at winning time back for your managers then. So, so you've got your playbook. That's very simple.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:29:17]:

If A, then B, then number two. And this is what I love and this is what we do most aside from compliance at Arrow up training we develop supervisors because this is where I.

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Angelo Esposito [00:29:26]:

Wanted to go next. So perfect.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:29:27]:

We cover compliance because people need it, right? You got your anti harassment, you wage an hour, your safety work, whatever you need. We cover it in a way that speaks the language of the industry Street. It's, it's. You're hearing me talk, right? I wrote a book, please don't sleep with the host, right. It's, it's, it's just we talk like restaurant people to restaurant people. So we cover compliance in a very way. No bullshit way that we all talk. And now what we do and I love is developing your building, your bench, your farm league.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:29:57]:

So we love. How do you get that, how do you get that 18 to 22 year old who's a supervisor and wants to grow well, how do we teach them the soft skills? Communication, how do we develop them up so that then they can let the other people rise up and build the bench up so that now you've got a bench of leaders. Because then when you go into the next location, you want to, okay, I've got this location. I'm either going to hire a general manager or whatnot that's going to come train in my location in a team and we go over there or I'm going to build the bench up. The AGM is going to move up. Everyone's going to move up. This GM is going to go over and be the opening GM and open that up and take one or two supervisors with them because you want somebody to really have buy in, get them to help you open up your next restaurant. They really feel like.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:30:46]:

And then they go back and they come back to their restaurant feeling like a pimp because they're like, oh yeah, I was out. I'm in with the bosses. This is it. You want to build people up, make them feel good, bring them into the new game and then bring them back.

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Angelo Esposito [00:30:59]:

Yeah, that's awesome. That's a great thing.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:31:01]:

So developing people up. You know, Anthony Bourdain said, and I love this, he's like, I don't continue to come up with new shows because I think it's a new show that you need. He said. And I. Maybe I'm paraphrasing it and I go back, but, but his point was I am attracting an incredible team and I want to give them the opportunity to build up. And so I need new shows so that then leaders can grow into new leaders and build other leaders up. And so it's really about putting systems in place so there's no micromanaging. And everyone knows two things.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:31:40]:

What's my job and how am I doing? Lock that in.

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Angelo Esposito [00:31:43]:

Yep.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:31:44]:

And build the bench of people to grow with you that surround yourself and empower them. That. That's it. Because look, being an operator, seeing how long you can wake up and go before getting kicked in the groin, but you've got people to be there for you.

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Angelo Esposito [00:32:00]:

That's well said. And then maybe kind of leaning in a bit more into Arab training, like taking a step back. Obviously we talked about, you know, close to or around 100 restaurant openings, your experience, you know, two decades of experience and just your passion for the space. What was the initial inspiration for you to kind of start air up training? Like, like, what was it that led you to be like, I want to get into, I want to help with compliance and help with training and leadership.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:32:25]:

I'm raising 20 million for a company and for my last company COO and I'm sitting in the boardroom and we got the money and I took them to maybe 18 locations from two.

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Angelo Esposito [00:32:37]:

Yeah.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:32:37]:

And did a good job building the infrastructure to take the money. And instead of being present in the meeting, I'm sitting there doodling. Time to burn, time to learn. Right. Instead of time to lean, time to clean. And I'm doodling all these things and I'm like, I gotta get out. I'm a trainer. And my goal was to build the Restaurant Essentials 101 of training.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:33:01]:

But I knew people wouldn't buy that from the start. And we're working on that and it's pretty cool. We're going to get that out next year. But I said, okay, what's something that people need that I can start with? And anti harassment training was becoming mandatory. And I said, okay, this is a heartbeat of culture. But you know what, it's terrible what's out there. Like, and not to knock other things, but I just really saw an opportunity again to speak the language of our industry to help navigate this, this gray area. I mean I'm one of those people.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:33:30]:

Wait, now, do I hug? Do I not hug? You know, I was never one of those people that was like doing the cucumber jokes. Like I knew that was off and never cool. But I would maybe make an off colored joke that was like, or a hug or something. Like not creepy, just kind of like then we're drinking and hanging out with each other after work. And so helping people kind of find those lines I really felt was really important. And it was in that, that then it just kind of took off because we started to partner with insurance companies. Because what I realized was if we can lower risk, they save money. So if you're listening and you want I bet you your insurance broker or carrier will pick up some of the costs of what we do.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:34:17]:

We have incredible people who do that because sticky value add for them as well as lowers the churn of people closing and lowers the risk and liability. So then we move to safety and then leaders control everything, Right? So let's talk about again with leaders, you talk about food costs, right? So again, get your food costs, get your things in line as you're expanding, get your bar inventory, get this in line. But your labor 49,7 shifts. It just did a study and it's 49 of employees quit managers. Well, if each employee costs $5,800 according to the nation's Restaurant News, on average lost employee for turnover, every employee that leaves and 49% leave because of your supervisor. Then let's really focus on training the supervisors.

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Angelo Esposito [00:35:06]:

Wow.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:35:06]:

Right. So that then got me into that game because supervisors are also the bridge between expectation and execution. When I would go into a new company as a C suite or any leader, first thing I did was I became friends with all the supervisors. First thing I did was do training, as I said. But, but while doing that, right, I became friends with all of them. Because you know why? They know where the bodies are buried. They know what's happening.

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Angelo Esposito [00:35:33]:

Right.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:35:34]:

They know you. If they're ready to leave something, they're the canary in the coal mines.

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Angelo Esposito [00:35:38]:

Right? Right.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:35:40]:

They're the ones you want to bring in. So we are building a community of leaders and it's really cool. They're all helping each other out. I don't care what your brand you are. From El Pollo Loco to the mom and pop, these are still 20 something year olds who are sharing stories with each other of how they're dealing with stuff and they're feeling more empowered about their job. They're communicating better, which means they're keeping people on board. So that was the arc from compliance to safety to our leadership. Now that we've got that, now we can start to work towards, okay, how do you make a rum and coke? And you know what, Coca Cola, why don't you come be a sponsor on this video of how do you make a rum and Coke? And starting to get this stuff going, right? That's, that's starting to unfold.

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Angelo Esposito [00:36:28]:

I love that. I love that. So for people who are interested in, in this, right, like there's clear, clear benefits. So what's the best way to learn more about Arab training? Is it they just reach out to you? They go to the website. Is it a, is it a one on one discovery call? Like how does the process start from like let's say someone listening today and being like, okay, this is interesting. I definitely want to invest more in my leadership, maybe also in compliance, etc. What, what are the steps?

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Jason Berkowitz [00:36:56]:

Well, first off, without question, email me directly if you'd like. You know, Jason @arrowuptraining.com. don't even think twice. Jason at Arrow Up Training. I love geeking out over this stuff and arrow up training.com spelled, you know, like it sounds. You'll go and you'll catch the vibe, you'll catch the videos. You're going to see a couple pathways though, and we're streamlining this a little because you might just want compliance. Click on it.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:37:24]:

You might just want individual courses. Click on it. You might be in California. And if any of you are listening into California, go look at Cali Compliance today because there's some new legal updates that we're really simplifying and solving. Click on Cali. So you'll kind of choose your adventure and then you'll see what we've got and then you reach out and we help tailor to you. We sell courses individually, but we've been really getting into this sort of all you can eat subscription model either on our app or other companies that we work with, where we do the leadership, we do the compliance, and we're starting to feed into the employees. So you kind of check it out and then we tailor it.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:38:02]:

You know, that's what's cool about being a small company. Some people are like, hey, I've got a huge learning management system. Can you just put your courses on there? Sure. You know, hey, we've got nothing. Can we use yours? Absolutely. Right.

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Angelo Esposito [00:38:14]:

Okay.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:38:15]:

We just kind of figure it out because I will tell you, all roads do lead to. I want to figure out who the safer operators are and pair them and their brokers, because everyone should have a relationship with their insurance broker. Yeah, I'm finding the insurance companies that the brokers will work with to then discount savings, premiums and everything. Because if you're doing the good stuff, let's track it and then let's give you the benefits. If you don't want that. You don't. But I think, I think, I think it's a cool plan to give back.

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Angelo Esposito [00:38:49]:

Yeah, 100%. It's a great, great benefit. I love the title, Please Don't Sleep with the Host. And I think. And I was just looking out and 49 other tips for Managing a Functional and Profitable Restaurant. First of all, I'm going to buy it because that sounds super interesting and I'm curious, but since we're on the topic, what inspired you? Like, tell me a bit about the title, Please Don't Sleep with the Host. And then if you can share maybe one or two tips from that book and then I'll link up the book, because it does sound like a pretty interesting one, but I'd love to hear from you. What inspired you to write it? How'd you come up with the title and maybe one or two tips.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:39:23]:

It was literally just sitting with a bunch of general managers and kind of watching them knock their head against the wall or figure out sort of how to move from old school to new school when we started to switch from you're welcome for having a job to thank you for showing up. What do you mean you're thanking them for showing up on time? Yeah, because it makes a difference. And so it was kind of helping to shepherd a lot of these old school style with new school respect or old school respect with new school style or old school ways of new school. And so I wrote it sort of as this kind of like shift drink conversation to be like, okay, this is happening. This is how we're going to do it. This is why come along. You can kick and scream or we can make this thing happen and please don't sleep with the host. And so it's just 50 short.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:40:10]:

It's, you know, it's a 66 page bathroom reader. Right. It's, it's quick and the idea was keep it short, keep it engaging. But it's, it's chapters and I loved the chapter please don't sleep with the host. And I made it the title because it even says like some of my greatest mentors did. And I get it. And they, they ran some of the best restaurants in the world. But they, the culture was just, could have been so much better.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:40:33]:

Things could have been so much better. So it's just kind of. And it's also like a nod to the inside scoop of I know. You know, somebody said to me once, they're like, just add, please don't sleep at the hosts unless you get married. Because some have married each other. So there's no, I'm not, there's no finger pointing in this thing. This is a real legit conversation. What's another one? Work like you own the place.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:40:56]:

Never forget you don't. Right. And talking about the owner puts their name and what it means to have liability. One of my favorite is change your socks mid shift if you're working a long shift. And okay, yeah, so it's a perfect practical one. And so what I realized is I would bring another pair of socks in and as I would go into evening service, after I worked lunch or whatnot, I would sit in the office and I would take my socks off and I would sit there for a second and breathe. And then I would put the new socks on. And it was almost like starting a brand new day because it's your foundation and your feet and this stuff matters, right? Sure.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:41:37]:

Get the 4 o'clock coffee. I get it. But why don't you pound a glass of water with it? Both, right? Yes. And so there's, there's a lot of those tips I would love if Anyone listening is a general manager. And not to take anything away from this podcast, but I've got this fun idea where my buddy and I, who, who we geek out together and we talk every day after his shift. We want to start talking to a bunch of general managers about what would their chapter be or kind of like what's working for them. Like, different than what you're doing in stories and growing in brands. Like, I want GMs talking to GMs about, like, tell us your story.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:42:15]:

Like, tell us what you're dealing with right now and what chapter resonates and what chapter One. What's the chapter you're going to write? And so we're going to start having fun. I think there's a really cool opportunity to talk to a lot of general managers about Day in the Life, you know?

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Angelo Esposito [00:42:32]:

Yeah, no, I love that. I love that. That's a great idea. And I'm happy. I'm happy to. Yeah, definitely. On any GM's listening that will make sure. Like I said to put links and.

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Angelo Esposito [00:42:41]:

And I love it, like, for. For me, the whole philosophy and I always say this. One of my mentors taught me this, and it was like a really good concept and it's so simple, but it was just like, whatever you want your business to do, just try to help like 10x people for free. So, like, the idea was like, okay, if. Let's say just for simple, like, math numbers. If I want WISK and people to pay for the WISK subscription and use our app and do food and beverage inventory and invoice management and all that stuff and pay whatever it is a month. And I want a hundred thousand restaurants. Great.

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Angelo Esposito [00:43:11]:

How can I help a million? So 900,000 or maybe consuming this and getting free content and my newsletter and blog articles and, you know, YouTube videos and just free stuff. And 10% of the audience might need it or can afford it or it makes sense for their type of restaurant or group, and we'll use WISK. And so really, when it comes to these things, I'm all for, like, how do we just help people, period? And so that's why I have no problem, like, really just being like, hey, this GM thing's awesome. If we could send people your way. If people listening can benefit from the leadership trait, like, cool. This is great. Like, helping.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:43:45]:

I love it. I really like that. It's cool. That's a new. I haven't heard that before. Where. If you can 10x and then 10%. Right? 10% will come.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:43:55]:

But. But 10xing it in value.

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Angelo Esposito [00:43:58]:

Yeah.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:43:59]:

Is great. I really like that. And it's clearly proven successful for you, so that. That's really cool. Yeah. I mean, my thing, I guess, is I'm really trying to work with some of these brands that we talk with to.

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Angelo Esposito [00:44:10]:

Yeah.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:44:10]:

You know, a few of the larger ones to say, you know, sponsor some of this training. If restaurants are America's number one first job job.

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Angelo Esposito [00:44:19]:

Yeah.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:44:19]:

Not the compliance and not the, you know, leadership necessarily until insurance picks it up. But. But for. For, you know, sponsorship, let's American Express. Right. These things like that. Like it matters if these businesses stay open. If restaurants are America's number one first job.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:44:35]:

Well, then let's sponsor. Let's get this training out to everyone for free. Let's just make it that everybody has it. And. And I love, you know, that that aligns with what. What you've learned and what's working for you is. Is to give that away, because I love it. You know, and something I think that's worked well for us in our content is we just love learning as a community.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:44:58]:

Right. Like, so our supervisor courses work not because it's me talking to you about my experience. It's because we interview supervisors and leaders and managers telling us their stories, and people are learning with them. So. And a lot of it we give away for free and we put it out there. Right. To get it going. So it's really cool.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:45:20]:

I appreciate what you said there. I'm going to take that to heart.

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Angelo Esposito [00:45:22]:

Yeah. 100%. I love that. And so as we wrap things up, I'd love to hear from you what's next for Arrow up training. I know you mentioned alluded to some plans for next year, but really this is just a chance for you, number one, to share kind of what's next. And then I'd love for you to just kind of plug away website if you have. I know you have the book. If you have any other LinkedIn, whatever you want to plug, you can plug.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:45:41]:

Yeah. So jason@arrowuptraining and you've got the website dot com.

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Angelo Esposito [00:45:46]:

The.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:45:46]:

Our real focus right now is pushing the compliance toolkit, especially in California. We've simplified it. People need it. I mean, California just did a reform on Paga, which people know or don't know. And it's. It's private Attorney General act where it's just all these restaurants are getting sued for simple infractions of like wage an hour. Somebody didn't take a break. So California gave a big win to restaurants who train their managers and do A couple things.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:46:13]:

So we are literally launching a course tomorrow or I don't know when this is coming out.

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Angelo Esposito [00:46:18]:

If the restaurant industry wasn't tough enough, now you got. And I got these lawsuits.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:46:22]:

Well, that's been going on for 10 years. So. So really what we're doing is there's, there's some rules have come into effect that can help restaurants, some wins that California gave them. So we're going to really double down on that. While that's happening, we're absolutely still really pushing across the entire country our leadership program, like that is it. We are doing compliance in a box in California and leadership development of California and across the country. So anybody who's looking to develop supervisors into leaders, we're building out. It's just a monthly program.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:46:53]:

You go, that's the bread and butter. While that's happening, we're getting deeper on our big plan in the horizon, which is insurance discounts on the back end, but sponsorship on the front end. And I'm hoping in 2025, it's looking like we're going to come out with some really cool courses sponsored by some cool global brands to flood the market with free training and to say, hey, you know, you're 16 and you're walking in. Like my nephew said, 16, walking into restaurant, my first job and I didn't even. Like, people are talking about, talk to the gm. Who's a gm? Was that me? Like, you know, they don't know. Pass on the right.

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Angelo Esposito [00:47:32]:

Right.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:47:33]:

Walk like you're driving all of these. Go over to the positive. So the basics, right. Communication. Just tell me what it means. Why do, why do I need to show up on time? Like, it's obvious, but it's not.

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Angelo Esposito [00:47:50]:

Apparently not.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:47:51]:

Yeah, I'm really. That's the 2025. What's coming down the pipeline that I'm excited by. But in the meantime, if you need compliance or restaurant leadership development, join our community because it's cool, it's growing and like I said real early. And I'll stop here. Yeah, I love that all these brands that we're working with, don't they love that there are leaders from other brands on camera talking to their leaders? Because it's about, it's a culture. It's just about learning the tools to navigate today. It doesn't need to be enclosed in this vertical of your own company.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:48:26]:

Do not be old school like that. You will miss out.

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Angelo Esposito [00:48:29]:

I love that. No, well said. Well said. Well, with that said again, you can check up arrowuptraining.com Jason, it was awesome having you on. We'll definitely be talking a lot more. So. Jason Berkowitz, founder of arrow up training.com thanks again for joining the WISKing it all podcast.

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Jason Berkowitz [00:48:48]:

Thanks Angelo. It was great to chat.

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Angelo Esposito [00:48:50]:

If you want to learn more about WISK, head to WISK.AI and book a demo.

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